In 2013, ad revenue dropped to $955,000. According to The Alligator’s IRS documents, the nonprofit lost $130,000 that year.

So The Alligator slashed expenses by 15 percent. Staff salaries took a 20 percent hit. But ad revenue plummeted to $830,000. The result? Losses in 2014 topped $131,000.

Says Trish Carey, The Alligator’s general manager, “I cannot tell you how many sleepless nights I have spent – and probably will spend in the future – thinking about the loss of revenue and what we could do.”

Here’s what The Alligator did do: Sell its building on West University Avenue. I’ve asked Carey how much The Alligator got paid for the property but have yet to hear back. Whatever the amount, it won’t last long with six-figure annual deficits.

Shoved to move

One unreported reason for the sale was a change in Florida’s property tax laws, says Jean Chance, the retired UF journalism professor who chairs The Alligator’s board of directors…

About a year-and-a-half ago, we got a notice from the property appraiser, and he was beginning to look at a lot of the not-for-profits – because apparently, the Florida Legislature changed some definitions, and we were no longer going to qualify for a property tax exemption.

For example, one of the requirements for keeping our 501(c)(3) status was that we’d have to have a physical classroom structure set aside – which is crazy, we’re a newspaper. We might have breezed past this year, but looking down the road, it looked very, very shaky that we’d keep the exemption. That would be a $25,000 bill.

Chance concluded: “If we had another $25,000 to add to the expense ledger, we would’ve been cooked.”

In other words, The Alligator’s budget is so fragile, the cost of buying one Honda Accord would force it out of business.

So selling the building wasn’t just about a windfall that’ll hopefully last long enough for Carey and Chance to rebuild revenue. It was also a survival tactic. Both women are well aware the windfall won’t last.

“No, it’s not all solved at all,” Chance says. “This the first step, but it’s a very big first step.”

What went wrong

Weirdly, that building was supposed to keep The Alligator afloat by renting out the second floor. But Chance says, “The building was constructed in 1929, and it was probably in rickety shape even then. I know there were plans to do renovation, but the building was in such poor shape, it wasn’t economically feasible.”

Another failed revenue attempt was raising an endowment. Instead, The Alligator’s investment income in 2012 was only $6,000. In 2014, that dropped to $879.

When Ed Barber retired as general manager in 2007 after three decades on the job, Chance says, “Part of his retirement agreement was he would be the fundraiser to develop an alumni support group, and he just hasn’t the health to do that.”

That leaves ad revenue, which Carey says has plunged for three reasons. The first two are obvious and not unique.

First, “Now there are many more choices to get your message out and most people think that online is the best,” she says.

Second, “We lost almost all of our classified revenue due to Craig’s List and social media.”

The third reason is more interesting…

The landscape of Gainesville has obviously changed, with a great deal of the mom-and-pops – our bread and butter – going out of business and being edged out by the bigger corporate stores.

The decision to purchase advertising was made by the local business owner and now is being made by somebody in corporate that does not know what The Alligator is all about and how effective an advertising vehicle it is.

What happens next

Anyone who knows Chance and Carey knows this: You could waterboard them for a decade in Guantanamo Bay before they’d admit defeat.

“We are a pretty tough group who will not give up,” Carey says. When I asked Chance about worst-case scenarios, she interrupted me with, “That’s not gonna happen.”

Still, force of will can conquer force of nature for only so long. Carey herself is an example of The Alligator’s precariousness. Since replacing Barber almost a decade ago, “She’s really doing two jobs,” Chance says. “She’s also de facto the advertising director.”

So what happens if Carey gets run over by a beer truck?

In fact, she’s still recovering from spinal surgery earlier this month. When I spoke to Chance shortly after that surgery, she seemed a combination of concerned, unsurprised, and grateful that Carey kept on working while literally on her back.

While Carey tries to figure out how to sell more ads, Chance is getting serious about an idea that’s half-heartedly been kicked around for decades: Start a proper Alligator alumni association that can donate money and buy time.

“Even if it’s just at Homecoming, we need some kind of event to connect the alumni with what’s going on” – although she realizes this isn’t the ideal time to hit up journalists for money. “The reality of life is there are folks are struggling out there.”

Money that matters

A couple ideas that might make a difference…

1. Forget the journalists, hit up the ad reps. The Alligator needs an alumni association for the students who not only made money selling ads, but definitely earn more now than their newsroom peers do.

2. Create Alligator advertising scholarships. Recruit talented ad reps by paying them more than just commission. Market to sales-loving high school seniors with enough money to compel them to choose UF.

…and I’m sure smarter Alligatoroids than me can come up with much more profitable ideas. But hitting up journalists is definitely not the answer.

A prediction

It’s not journalism that keeps The Alligator going. It was Ed Barber and now Trish Carey caring as much about the number-crunching as we cared about the writing and photography.

What are the odds The Alligator finds such a devoted GM three times in a row? The most shocking stat on The Alligator’s 990s is one I won’t share with you: Trish Carey’s compensation. Look it up, it’s pathetic.

I didn’t know who wrote this until I saw the name on the comment above. I wasn’t a big fan in college and am not right now. It’s unfortunate to see a lack of personal growth from someone who possessed talent, from the juvenile tripe back in the 80’s (the bathroom sex story and gross joke contest) to now an anonymous and poorly designed blog with an equally juvenile name. I agree with the previous poster. You’re saying “look at me!” while hurting the newspaper you purport to care about.

1. Oprah Winfrey’s show paid me $100 for an introduction to my sources and some background about the gay bathroom sex cover. Although it now occurs to me this only proves your point.

2. Two interesting things about that Disgusting Joke Contest. First, Trish Carey was ad director at the time, and I was Applause editor. She broke into my office and stole my answering machine where the winning joke was recorded. We were mad at each other for a long time but are pals now. Second, that contest got the editor suspended but not me: http://bit.ly/1QpMEnf

3. “Journoterrorist” was coined by Applause staffer Tom Nordlie to describe our Special Marijuana Issue, which included instructions on how to safely and cheaply buy an eighth in the Student Ghetto. Consumer journalism at its finest.

Wonder what would have happened if we had anonymous comments back in the 80s? I specially like how your blog requires an email address but you can just make one up (well we’ll see in a minute when I hit post.) Funny how you can still tork people off from thirty years ago as if no time elapsed at all, but this blog theme IS pretty old and needs updating.

While it’s difficult for many of us to remember an Alligator outside of that building, at the end of the day, it is just a building. Selling the Alligator building will allow the newspaper to divert costs on endless repairs and energy inefficiencies back into publishing the paper. They may even be able to set up an endowment or fund to ensure the future of the Alligator. It is bittersweet to say goodbye to the building, but let’s not confuse that with saying goodbye to the Alligator.

Can we turn this conversation away from recrimination and fornication and toward solving the problem? Who is in charge of launching an Alligator alumni association, whether for the newsroom or salesroom staffs? I love the idea of an advertising scholarship, so who takes lead on that? As Ed Harris said in Apollo 13, “Let’s work the problem people. Let’s not make things worse by guessing.”

Ok Koretzky, you only have two sources for this piece and they weren’t even two GOOD sources. Trish, yes, she is worthy to talk to, but Jean?? She is fine but isn’t an expert on what the Alligator needs to do to stay current. She hasn’t been in journalism for ages. How about talking to the students who work/worked there? Past editors who dealt with Trish and the board? You might have heard a different perspective. It would have been a more complete story and might have shown the downfall of the Alligator is from management not being tech savvy. They aren’t knowledgable about what the paper needs to do to join the internet age. Listen to the past editors and they would have told you. The Alligator has never been known for being cutting edge but this might be its undoing. Students get their news differently than they did in 1990s. The Alligator needed to evolve, but that is hard for people who don’t understand the technology. Every paper is struggling with ad revenue. That wasn’t an unforeseen threat. I don’t buy that as an excuse for their problems. I think you missed the real issue with Alligator.

1. Why isn’t the chairman of the board a “GOOD” source for a story about The Alligator’s finances? The journalism is up to the students. You really want the board interfering in that?

2. How does the management not being “tech savvy” keep the students from doing whatever the hell they want? Except for Trish Carey stealing my answering machine, I never suffered any interference from the business side.

3. The Alligator isn’t “cutting edge”? Maybe it wasn’t when you were editor. But when I was editor, David Hobby and Mark Bridgwater put the paper online – in 1987. http://bit.ly/1SW4n7g

4. How should The Alligator “evolve”? What’s the “real issue” I missed? I’ll support any reasonable idea.

Why I’m even responding to you, I don’t know. You were an ass back then and you certainly haven’t changed. But I can’t help myself.

I will concede that I probably shouldn’t have said that Jean wasn’t a good source. I meant to say that Trish and Jean tell just ONE side of the story. Jean is a fine source, but if you are going to be lazy and only speak to two people that second person should offer a different perspective.

Now if you put some effort into this story, which I do find interesting, you would have spoken to the kids who work their butts off in the newsroom.

1. Why do they think it is so hard to get students to work there?

2. Why do they think the paper is struggling? What are students telling them?

3. What problems do the editors face when working with management?

4. Why aren’t kids reading the paper anymore?

5. How do students get their news, and how can the Alligator better serve their readership? Does the Alligator need its own app? Be able to send breaking news/sports scores to the students smartphones directly?

6. How is the online edition working? It is generating revenue? Do students maintain it and upload their stories to it? How many people use the website?

You didn’t look into any of these things. Nor did you ask any of these questions. The problems with the Alligator aren’t singular. There are many, and they are big. And they have been going on for decades.

No, the Alligator isn’t cutting edge. Please! Just the fact that you argue this one is laughable. The Alligator may have gotten a website in 1987 but that doesn’t make it cutting edge. No one ever maintained it when I was there and it was gone before 1991. They still have a darkroom for crying out loud!! And the same sofa has been in the editor’s office for the past two decades.

The students can’t buy their own software or create their own Alligator website without the support of Trish. In the 90s, we tried to get a fax machine and it took months to get it approved! I think someone ended up donating an old one to the editor’s office. So cutting edge! You think these students can do whatever they want regarding software purchases or web hosting without Trish’s ok? Not the case.

Back in 2008, Jessie DiSalva, the editor at the time, asked for help because of ongoing fights with Trish. Trish wouldn’t approve an upgrade for Photoshop which Jessie said was crazy old and was much needed by the photo department.

The editor made her plea on Facebook for help (you might remember that). This was the time when no one wanted to run for Editor. I responded and offered to buy the $500 upgrade as a donation to the Alligator. Trish didn’t want to take my help because they didn’t want to give the newsroom the software. I don’t know why they didn’t want to buy it. Trish didn’t give a good explanation and I had to force the issue.

Eventually I got the newsroom the software but not without a fight. The editor was grateful but she said those struggles were common and OFTEN. She said it was exhausting to fight with Trish constantly and it was impossible to do anything. The students can’t do whatever they want. It would be great if they could, but that isn’t realistic.

Speak to Jessie or Emily Cardinali, both past editors, and they will tell about their struggles to get the Alligator’s presence online to be more meaningful and informative. Emily said about half of all the papers that get printed go straight into the recycling bin.

You know I am not a fan of yours and never was, but I did think this article was a good idea. Considering you were always known as being an agitator, it is a bit surprising that you didn’t dig deeper and that you just accepted what Trish said as gospel.

1. I don’t believe a fax machine and a PhotoShop upgrade determine whether The Alligator is profitable or insolvent.

2. The problems you cite from your Alligator era are no different than any other. Ask the mid-’80s crew about Telerams, the first desktop computers in the newsroom. We begged the Florida Times-Union for those decrepit machines, and Mickie Anderson and I wrecked my car picking some up. I needed emergency hernia surgery. So boo-hoo for your software upgrades.

3. How do you know I was “ass back then”? I’m not arguing the “ass” part, just the time period. We never worked together, Jaime. I visited The Alligator newsroom a decade later looking for interns, and you kept interrupting my conversations because I annoyed you. I’m actually impressed with myself for irking you so much in one afternoon that you hold a grudge 20 years later – but you still haven’t told me anything insightful that will help The Alligator survive.

Because The Alligator is bigger than the both of us, I’m more than happy to conspire with you on ways to keep the place alive. If you’re serious, email me at journoterrorist@gmail.com. I promise to control my assery.

Again, you miss the point. I don’t know how to save it. My point was that your article did nothing to find a possible answer. You should have asked more questions. I think you started in a good place but failed to dig deeper. Look past the obvious to see what the paper can do to change.

All papers are going through this. The Alligator didn’t invent this problem, but they might be in a unique position to deal with it if the people in charge stop thinking of themselves as just a paper.

Like I said, I don’t have the answers, but I think there are some things they should do that would help a little. They need to start an alumni group that deals with fundraising. Every year they should have a goal and they should annoy us with letters and phone calls begging for money. This could have been started decades ago, but better late than never. They could probably have ginned up some extra cash that way. Plus lots of former Alligator folks want to do something to give back. They could hold fundraisers once a year like schools do.

The paper is a non-profit first and foremost. They should act like it and seek out grants constantly. There are tons of organizations that they could apply to. It is a full time job applying to grants but they are well worth it. Sadly those grants could have helped them fix up the old building.

Another thing that I think would help a bit is some new blood on the board. I think the board should be filled with knowledgable, young-ish, talented journalists that can add valuable insight to newsroom. Maybe have a spot for alumni that have done well, like Debbie Cenziper or Gregg Doyle (they are the only ones I can think of at the moment), and they should find a board member from some successful online publication. A board should be the best people from all parts the news biz. If the board is filled with people who aren’t active in journalism in any way, how can they advise the newsroom properly? How would they know what it is like to be in a newsroom now? How can they take the Alligator forward? Management and the newsroom need some new thinking. They can’t keep running the Alligator the same way forever. Everyone needs to change.

You are right we never worked together. Thank god for that. And, yes, I only met you that one time when you came to the paper and bad mouthed my staff. So, yes, I yelled at you in the middle of Farah’s. I remember it well. And, no, you don’t irk me. What bothers me is that you clearly had talent. People said you did anyhow so I expected more. Plus I lack impulse control when I get irritated, which gets me into trouble, and is the only reason I continue writing back.

I think if you talk to more people rather than drink the Trish Kool-aid you might find out what the real problem with the paper is. Maybe Trish is right, but you didn’t even try. I don’t want the Alligator to go away, and I don’t think you do either. So try. That was my point, ass.

Some of your ideas are sound, and a couple are already in the works. Wanna help? Email me. If we join forces – me with squandered talent, you with zero impulse control – we could accomplish great things for The Alligator.